Black Badger

I waited for him to continue.

Judging from the aide-de-camp’s words, Kairos must have realized who the senior was that had hit me, but thankfully he didn’t react at all.

Ricardo lounged lazily in his chair, staring up at the café ceiling.

Ska, in contrast, kept his eyes on his coffee as he continued:

“He didn’t even try to listen.”

“Ah.”

“But well, that’s just how he is.”

Ska’s tone was calm.

“He’s stubborn to the bone, and he barely listens to anyone. At least he used to listen to me a little. Until now, anyway.”

That sounded about right.

I had sensed once or twice that Ricardo and Jonathan respected Ska, leaning on him in ways they themselves weren’t aware of. I had also noticed it at the year-end party, when we sat at the same table drinking.

I, too, had someone I unconsciously leaned on, so I knew the signs.

Even if they didn’t realize it...

As I traced back those memories, Ska gave a bitter smile.

“You know he lost his family in the war, right?”

“Yes.”

His wife, who used to run a flower shop.

And the people I don’t know about. The things he loved and lost.

“He doesn’t want to leave the past, so he keeps trying to recreate the same environment. We failed to treat him. That’s why Jonathan barely learns new rookies’ names. Because at the point in the past he’s trying to preserve, they didn’t exist.”

So you had tried to help him.

It fit. I had always sensed that Ricardo and Ska paid special attention to Jonathan. It was said that when Jonathan committed insubordination, it was these two who dragged him out and made him bow his head.

“Because of that, his hatred for Creatures is extreme, and his fear of losing people around him is huge. Jonathan and Rick used to get warned often in the early days for killing Creatures too brutally inside the Core.”

“I only worked hard to protect civilians~.”

Ricardo replied airily.

Ska ignored his friend’s remark.

“So when he suddenly heard someone call you a Creature... his mind probably snapped. He does that sometimes. His brain flies out and doesn’t come back for a while.”

“I heard about the incident with Senior Richard.”

“Yeah, same kind of thing. But he eventually snaps out of it.”

That seemed to be what he wanted to emphasize.

Unsure how to reply, I nodded slowly.

I was about to say, It’s fine anyway, when Ska asked in a serious tone:

“I’ll nag him until he comes to his senses. When he apologizes later, could ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ you accept it?”

Hm?

So this was the real point.

The question felt odd. I didn’t understand why he sounded like he was pleading.

“Yes. Of course. I’m not even sure I’m in a position to receive an apology... but even if he never forgives me, I won’t resent him. He has every right.”

“He should apologize. He hit you hard.”

“I was just standing there and letting him.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that he needs to recognize he was wrong. And his mental illness isn’t so severe that he’d fail to understand that.”

...Is that so?

I was skeptical, but I nodded anyway. I couldn’t exactly tell him, “He’s never going to apologize,” when he was using his personal time to ask me this.

Maybe he sensed my true thoughts, because he gave me a crooked smile.

“Don’t you think it’s unreasonable from the start? That he hates the Creature boss who sided with humanity against the enemy?”

“I didn’t stop the war. That’s true.”

“The humans lit the fuse by pushing Creatures too far, and the Creatures lit the fire by trying to crush those humans and take the top spot.”

Ska’s tone was firm.

“One person can’t stop the flow of the world.”

“Well... I can’t fully agree with that. But in any case, those who lost precious things because of the storm of history have the right to resent the one who couldn’t stop it. You don’t need to try to change Senior Kudo’s heart on my behalf, aide-de-camp.”

“You have no faith in us.”

I expected him to get annoyed, but instead the chief aide-de-camp smiled faintly.

“Or maybe you just have no expectations of people at all?”

I ran out of replies.

Pressing my lips into a thin line, I saw Ska’s eyes curve slightly.

“Your long-time comrades didn’t believe in you to the end, so maybe it makes sense you can’t hold hope for people.”

He delivered the line with a smile, but it hit deep.

“Well, let’s see. How it all turns out.”

“...Yes.”

“As I said, Jonathan at least listens to me a little. And even though it seems like he ignores Ricardo, he always takes his words seriously. If the two of us nag him enough, he’ll eventually realize he was in the wrong.”

“Ah~... that guy never listens to me~.”

Ricardo grumbled.

“You handle him, okay~? I’m not confident.”

I gave a faint smile.

Keeping the smile, I nodded that I understood.

The aide-de-camp thanked me briskly and turned his gaze toward Kairos.

“Do you know who Jonathan Kudo is?”

“Yes.”

My kin, who had been silent, answered politely.

“He’s the one who uses a sword.”

“He already knows you’re Hilde’s kin. He won’t show it, but still — avoid talking to him if possible. You won’t be placed on any mission with him. I’ve told the Personnel Director already.”

“I understand.”

“Hilde must’ve told you not to go hit Jonathan in return.”

The aide-de-camp let out a low chuckle.

“Thanks for holding back. I’ll apologize in his stead. Even if it’s not enough.”

Kairos stretched his mouth into a long, thin line.

His eyes didn’t smile, but his mouth did — the polite expression he wore in public to hide his true feelings.

After we parted from our seniors, I should remember to thank him again for holding back.

Thinking that, I emptied my Americano.

***

The banquet at Glasshouse.

Even invitations were only given to a selected few.

But it wasn’t important or secretive enough for someone like Colton or Yekaterina to attend. Major credit-rating agencies, banks, and securities companies — plus politicians and reporters — were the usual invitees.

Should I bow to the Elders to get an official invitation?

I considered it briefly... but the problem resolved itself almost embarrassingly quickly.

Thanks to Kairos.

“You earned a reputation, too.”

Kairos handed me the invitation while straightening his tie.

“I deliberately posted a picture of us together on SNS, and the reaction exploded. You saw, right? You must’ve gotten plenty of messages.”

“San freaked out and sent me one. Said she wanted your autograph.”

“Haha! That high school kid you saved?”

I nodded and put on my watch.

We would soon drive to Glasshouse in Kairos’s car. All the preparations for the straightforward, intuitive operation were complete.

Although yesterday, when I visited Yun’s hospital room and explained the detailed plan, my master gave me a look like he couldn’t believe how stupid my brain was.

‘You think that’ll work?’

‘Kairos says it probably will.’

‘If I were him, I’d just let you die.’

I grinned at my master’s dry tone.

‘You isn’t a consequentialist.’

That was a very Yun-like remark.

But You had always been complicated, and now — twisted — he was even more so. His patterns didn’t align with Yun’s clear-cut reasoning.

Watching my master’s eyebrows twitch, I added:

‘And Lee Seunghyun will be assigned as Yehyeon’s escort throughout.’

Whether by choice or circumstance, I couldn’t tell.

The important thing was that we’d reached an agreement. It helped that it happened to be Lee Seunghyun’s day off. If Yekaterina had been attending the banquet, she never would’ve allowed my persuasion.

‘Lee Seunghyun? You still don’t understand that man. He’s the one who said Yehyeon kept getting beat up by Jaeyeon because he was too pathetic to defend himself.’

‘Well... my relationship with him isn’t that bad.’

Honestly, lately he’d seemed a bit annoyed with me.

‘I paid him.’

‘Paid what.’

‘The lessons he never finished.’

The ones cut short when the war started.

‘I agreed to finish three more lessons.’

He asked for five, but I insisted on three.

Because that man had enough talent to learn sword strikes within five lessons. To be honest, part of me wanted to see him master the sword. It would be rewarding — to teach a human sword techniques for the first time.

But that would shift the balance among the Elders.

It would tip things further toward Yekaterina.

And I didn’t want to deal with the consequences.

Yun seemed convinced by my explanation, though not satisfied.

I handed him a glass of water as he sighed irritably.

‘You know he’s the best escort we have.’

Lee Seunghyun was someone who had to face both of Erhart’s hands — Shashinsky and Levi — at the same time.

Yun had once said he was the strongest among current humanity. There was no better escort. Adding more would only get in his way.

‘Of course, the plan is to lure You out beforehand so that Seunghyun won’t even need to get involved.’

I still hadn’t changed the name: the Carrot–Taleb Plan.

Only three people knew the details: me, Kairos, and Yun.

That was enough for such a simple plan.

Incidentally, Yehyeon didn’t even know I was attending the banquet.

“That man — he was one of the soldiers you trained in the past, wasn’t he?”

We got into Kairos’s yellow car.

As I buckled my seatbelt and reviewed Glasshouse’s schematics again, my kin asked.

I checked the time and nodded.

“Yes.”

“He hasn’t changed at all. Strange that he’s not a Badger now.”

“Right. He’s attached to one of the Elders.”

He didn’t ask why.

It was best not to take interest in the affairs of Elders and their subordinates. Just thinking of Colton and Jaeyeon, or Erhart with Shashinsky & Levi, made my forehead wrinkle.

At least with Yekaterina and Lee Seunghyun, their relationship looked dry and simple. But Elder-subordinate dynamics were never just about money.

Sometimes ignorance really was bliss.

I lifted my hand to check the banquet hall’s clearance as the car pulled out.

The roar of the engine stabbed my ears.

Lost in thought within the now-familiar speed, I heard Kairos speak casually:

“You mean that Elder woman with the braided silver hair? I think I saw her once at a party.”

“What?”

I widened my eyes and looked up.

“You know Sukhoi?”

“I just greeted her once. Didn’t know she was such a big shot at the time. Now that I think about it, maybe she came just to see me in person.”

“If that’s the only reason, then thank goodness.”

Unsettling.

Really unsettling.

Hearing Elder names never felt good, in any context.

I looked at my kin, who suited formal wear almost too well.

“Don’t get involved with her again. Nothing good comes from it.”

“Yeah. I’m not a driver anymore, so it won’t happen.”

“She was your sponsor, right?”

“Right.”

Kairos answered without hesitation.

Then added, after a brief pause:

“She was memorable... because she resembled Bingje.”

I let out a cold laugh.

That accursed name. The alias of someone I’d struggled desperately to erase.

Even though I physically disposed of her, her ideology and beliefs remained, and I had ultimately declared defeat at the hands of humans.

Savoring the bitterness of that memory, I replied:

“Let’s end this in one go. The next time Yehyeon appears publicly, he won’t have Lee Seunghyun with him.”

Kairos answered by pressing the accelerator.

***

We arrived at Glasshouse.